The city of El Paso built the first El Paso Municipal Airport near the east side of the Franklin Mountains in 1928. The airport was closed by 1945 and in more recent times has been home to the Jobe Concrete Products "Planeport" cement factory.

The El Paso Municipal Airport construction was inspired by a visit from Charles Lindbergh.

What became El Paso International Airport was built as Standard Airport by Standard Airlines in 1929 for transcontinental air mail service. Standard Airlines became a division of American Airlines in the 1930s. In 1936, American Airlines "swapped" airports with the city of El Paso and El Paso International Airport was born.

In 1934, Varney Speed Lines (now United Airlines) operated at the old El Paso Municipal Airport (now closed). In 1937, the airline moved to Denver, Colorado when Robert Six took over the airline.

At the end of the war the airfield was deemed excess by the military and returned to the local government for civil use. The April 1952 C&GS diagram shows runways 4, 8, 12 and 17, each 7001 to 7062 ft long.

El Paso was the last stop of the first hijacking of a jetliner, a Boeing 707 owned by Continental Airlines. Before deregulation in the USA, El Paso was a focus city for Continental but was soon demoted to a standard station in a hub-and-spoke system under Frank Lorenzo.

The terminal is a pier-satellite layout. It has a central entrance and the gates branch out east to west on the two concourses. The Airport has East and West Concourses. Gates A1–A4 are located on the West Concourse and Gates B1–B11 is located on the East Concourse. The Airport has a total of 15 gates. There is also a lower and upper level. The gates are located on the upper level and the ticketing, baggage claim, rental car, and main entrance are located on the lower level of the terminal. The meeter/greeter area is located on the lower level just behind the escalators that lead to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint leading to the gates. Major terminal renovations have been made over the past several years, designed and managed by the local architectural firm MNK Architects.

Baggage claim area.

The Airport access road is Convair Road. Convair Road splits into four lanes with the left two lanes reserved for commercial vehicles and the right two lanes utilized for pickup and drop off of passengers. In between the split road there is a waiting area where passengers can wait for commercial vehicles to arrive.

Gates: Generally, these gates are used for the following airlines. Gates A1–A2: American Airlines and American Eagle. Gate B1: Delta Air Lines. Gates B3–B6: Southwest Airlines. Gate B7: US Airways and US Airways Express. Gates B9 and B11: United Airlines and United Express.

Food Court: The food court is located between gates B6 and B11. It is currently occupied with Carlos and Mickey's Mexican Express, Pizza Hut Express, Quizno's and Starbucks Coffee.

On July 20, 1982, Douglas C-47D N102BL of Pronto Aviation Services was damaged beyond repair in a crash landing near El Paso International Airport following an engine failure shortly after take-off. The aircraft was on a domestic non-scheduled passenger flight to Tucson International Airport, Arizona when the engine failed and the decision was made to return to El Paso. A single engine go-around was attempted following an unsafe landing gear warning.[5]

On February 19, 1988, Don McCoy, a private pilot, the owner of El Paso Sand and Gravel, took off in a newly acquired Rockwell Aero Commander 680 in a snowstorm (an aircraft he was not properly rated to fly), and attempted to land again after encountering mechanical trouble in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The aircraft crashed, killing the owner and two acquaintances. Some later attempted to attribute the accident to US Senator Phil Gramm, as it was alleged that McCoy planned to testify against Senator Gramm's shakedown of campaign contributions made by the El Paso Small Business Administration office.[6][7]

On January 16, 2006, a mechanic employed by a contractor of Continental Airlines was killed when he was sucked into the right engine of a Boeing 737–524 while investigating an oil leak. The aircraft was preparing to depart as Continental Airlines Flight 1515 to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.[8][9][10]